SIR CHARLES DILKE ON NEW ZEALAND.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 455, 19 March 1890, Page 5

SIR CHARLES DILKE ON NEW ZEALAND.

(FROM OUR LONDON' CORRESPONDENT.) London, January 31. In the two remarkable volumes entitled “Problems of Greater Britain,” which Sir Charles Dilke has to-day published, the number of pages esoecially devoted to New Zealand is not large. But as in the case of his earlier work, all that he says is well worth careful attention of the people, and especially of the statesmen of New Zealand. There can be no doubt that every one of the pages devoted to the social and political problems of the colony will be eagerly read and discussed. Sir Charles Dilke may not be in mere point of style so brilliant a writer, as Mr Froude, but his opinions are those of a tried and practical politician, and not a mere theorist; his opinions, therefore, are sure to command the respectful attention of the men who are actually moulding the destinies of New Zealand, and who are naturally not at all inclined to pay much attention to the fine phrases and fallacious generalisations of Mr Froude.

Sir Charles Dilke, in the New Zealand sections of his book, gives one or two character portraits which are worth transcribing. Beginning with the Prime Ministe whom he describes as the introducer

strong protection, Sir Charles remark that he was “ formerly the leader of the Con servative party, but even then one of its most Liberal members, and now hardly to be described as a Conservative, although lie is in favour of a denominational education.” Then follows Sir Charles Dilko’s portrait of your Premier: —“Sir Harry Atkinson is a plain, straightforward, able man, who was a good soldier during the Maori war, an honest aud energetic, experienced and trusted politician, a capable speaker, a good representative of the practical upright portion of the English people,and a manof resolute will and unflinching courage. He is now as considerable a personage in New Zealand by force of character as is Sir Henry Parkes in New South Wales.”

The next picture in Sir Charles Dilke’s New Zealand portrait gallery is the following :—“The late Prime Minister,Sir Robert Stout, who till very recently led the Liberal party, is one of the chief lawyers in Dunedin, and is a Scotchman from the Horkney Islands. He was originally a pupil teacher, and then a schoolmaster before ho became ‘a barrister of the Supreme Court of New Zealand.’ He is an able speaker and a wellread and thoughtful man ; an ardent advocate of temperance principles, a strong democrat, and in religious matters an active secularist.’’ Sir Robert Stout’s honesty to my mind is not doubtful, and he has proclaimed his convictions in favour of State ownership of land in such a way as to be politically damaging to himself at a time when he knew that the opinion of the colony was against him. He is substantially in favour of the same views on the land question as those held in Queensland by Sir Samuel Griffith and other partial supporters of Mr Henry George, and in Victoria by Mr Syme, of the Melbourne “ Age.” Sir Chas. Dilke, after stating that Sir Robert Stout is in favour of a Single Chamber and opposed to separation from the mother country, asserts that the late Prime Minister damaged himself by joining Sir Julius Vogel from 1884 till 1887. Sir Charles, in fact, asserts that one of the principal items of the strength of the Atkinson Ministry is terror of “ Vogel Finance.” In this portion of the book the veteran Sir George Grey is altogether ignored; and, in contradistinction to the florid eulogium bestowed upon him in the pages of “ Oceana,” Sir George is merely casually mentioned in the other volume of the “Problems of Greater Britain.” Mr Ballance is frequently referred to in an appreciative manner, while Sir William Jervois and Lord Onslow are called pleasant and capable rulers, and Sir Charles thinks “it is to the credit of the Colonial Office that they Should have found such good men for the South Sea colonies.”

With great care and evident knowledge, Sir Charles Dilke the Legislative peculiarities of New Zealand, such as Government insurance, the heavily graduated taxation, and the local option Acts. Unlike Mr Froude, he takes a most favourable view of the financial condition of the colony, and considers its future to be an assured and brilliant one, sustaining, like Italy or Japan, some twenty to thirty million inhabitants. In dealing. with the literature of New Zealand, which he does under a separate heading, Sir Charles refers to “ Old New Zealand ” as a remarkable and entertaining work. Of the late Mr Alfred Domett he remarks, “ Even if his poetry had been real New Zealand poetry, it could not, according to my judg ment, have been pronounced, generally speaking, good.” Sir Charles adds : —“ Mr Farjeon is a clever novelist, who in his time has been, I believe, first a digger in Victoria and then a jour nalist in New Zealand ; but he, too, can hardly be claimed as a ‘colonial product. Mr Marriott Watson and other New Zealand writers have become known to students of the best colonial literature, but have not yet made much mark in the outside world % though Mr Marriott Watson’s ‘ Marahuna ’ lias been lately published in London. ‘ Station Life in New Zealand,’ by Lady Barker, now the wife of Sir Napier Broome, is, after ‘ Old New Zealand,’ the best known w6rk that the colony has yet produced. It has been thought that great as are the literary disadvantages under which all colonies labour, these have been increased in New Zealand by the existence of separate provincial centres, each trying to do everything, but not as yet sufficiently considerable to do things well.” Sir Charles Dilke is decidedly eulogistic on the “ national character ” of the New Zealand settlers, while of the country itself he declares the “New Zealand scenery will compare with that of Japan.” The author then enters into a detailed accountof the problem of New Zealand military and naval defence, 1 followed by a dissertation on her interest in the question of the sovereignty of the Pacific Islands, which leads him to a statesmanlike summary of the result of the recent Samoan Conference. So far the reader will find these matters and sundry others most ably discussed under the general heading New Zealand. But the colonial student of current politics who may want to knowhow New Zealand, as well as every other member of the great British family of selfgoverning States, is settling her particular "problems,” must turn to the second volume of Sir Charles Dilke’s work, in which he will find a fount of most valuable and suggestive information. It is hardly necessary to add that the “ Problems of Greater Britain ” is a work that should be promptly placed on the shelves of every public library and mechanics’ institute throughout the colony.